Govt, Weda Bay sign MoU on Contract of Work amendment
Friday, October 17 2014 - 08:52 AM WIB
The Govenrment of Indonesia (GoI) and mining company PT Wed Bay Nickel (WBN) signed on Friday a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to amend the latter?s Contract of Work (CoW) over a nickel mine in Halmahera, North Maluku province.
?Going forward, we hope this step will help accelerate our efforts to build a nickel industry in eastern Indonesia,? WBN?s President Director Alain Giraud said in a statement.
The MoU was signed by acting Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Chairul Tanjung. During the occasion, Chairul also signed an amendement of the CoW owned by nickel producer PT Vale Indonesia. Both contracts were amended to bring them in compliance with the 2009 mining low.
?The signing of the MoU marks an important milestone for our project. Nevertheless, thare are still several phases that the firm has to go through before starting the construction of nickel smelter with a hydrometalurgical technology,? Giraud said.
WBN did provide details on the MoU, but R. Sukhyar, Director General of Minerals and Coal said WBN agreed to divest up 40 percent of its stake. WBN is owned by the joint venture of state owned firm PT ANTAM (10 percent) and Strand Minerals (Indonesia) Pte. Ltd. (90 percent). Strand is 90 percent owned by ERAMET S.A. (66.6 percent), Mitsubishi Corporation (30 percent) and PAMCO (3.4 percent).
Editing by Johannes Simbolon